Assad Tells Wahhab Lebanon Stability 'Reflects Positively' on Syria
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday stressed Syria’s “keenness on Lebanon’s stability” during a meeting in Damascus with Arab Tawhid Party leader Wiam Wahhab, the party’s media department said in a statement.
The two men discussed the situations in Lebanon and the Arab region during their “three-hour meeting,” the party added.
Assad stressed to Wahhab “Syria’s keenness” on “stability in Lebanon,” highlighting “the positive impact of this stability on the Syrian arena,” according to the statement.
“President Assad stressed the need to preserver the presence of the Druze sect in the Arab Orient, hailing its national and pan-Arab roles,” the statement said.
Wahhab quoted Assad as saying that “Syria loves all its children, without any discrimination.”
“Some media outlets have reported that President Assad has received the chief of the Tawhid party in Damascus for the first time ever. The party’s media department stresses that this meeting was not the first of its kind, but rather the first public one recently.”
The Lebanese government, which is led by Syrian- and Iranian-backed Hizbullah and its allies, has sidestepped taking a firm stand on the Syria crisis in what observers say is a bid to avoid potential sanctions or a spillover of the violence.
The United Nations estimates more than 5,400 people have been killed in Syria since March as al-Assad's regime cracks down on a popular revolt.
Thousands of Syrian refugees have fled to Lebanon but many say they do not feel safe in the neighboring country.
Syria controlled Lebanon from 1976-2005 and the two countries have yet to agree on an official demarcation of the 330-kilometer common border.
Despite the departure of Syrian troops from Lebanon under popular and international pressure in 2005, Damascus maintains a strong influence in Lebanon.
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